University of Helsinki
IJE4D in short (discontinued in 2015):
41 authors published between 2012-2015
22 articles published between 2012-2015
12 languages used in abstracts (Chinese, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Icelandic, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Spanish, Swedish) between 2012-2015
IJE4D was given a level 1 journal status by The Norwegian Association of Higher Education Institutions (UHR) in 2015
The International Journal of Education for Diversities (IJE4D) is a fully peer-reviewed journal published by the Department of Teacher Education of the University of Helsinki (Finland).
The aim of IJE4D is to publish articles about diversities in many and varied contexts and in relation to different identity markers (religion, gender, social class, etc.) and their intersections. In so doing, we move beyond Puwar’s criticism (2004: 1): “the language of diversity is today embraced as a holy mantra across different sites. We are told that diversity is good for us. It makes for an enriched multicultural society”. For IJE4D, everybody is multicultural.
In setting up the journal, we had a clear agenda in mind:
– the rejection of (neo-)culturalism or (neo-)essentialism (relying only on e.g. national or ethnic cultures to explain what people do and think; or “invoking the magical power of some allegedly predominant identity (that) drowns other affiliations” (Sen, 2006: xv);
– the denunciation of the smuggling in of the old, ideological and contested concept of culture (Prashad, 2011)
– the avoidance of the injustice, unfair treatment and ‘hierarchization’ of self and other (Dervin, 2012; Byrd Clark, 2009; Machart et al., 2013).
Instead we wish to promote a more ‘liquid’ (Bauman, 2004), co-constructivist and critical approach to diversities in education. This entails:
– Criticality towards the concepts and notions we use – researchers and practitioners are also social beings who can demonize or promote self and other;
– Hyper-reflexivity and accountability from researchers and practitioners – and transparency in terms of meaning-making and decision-making in writing research;
– A systematic inclusion of the importance of language in doing research and writing about it (questions of translation; co-construction of meaning between the researcher and participants, intersubjectivity) – bearing in mind Shi-xu’s claim that “language and communication are a joint social activity that is embedded in a broader cultural and historical and by implication unequal-power context and that, more particularly, current intercultural communication is itself part of the globalized competition, mass human migration, unending local conflict and hostility, where social injustice and alienation are the order of the day” (2001: 280);
– A discussion of power relations in education for diversities;
– Data collection that can reflect ‘complexity’ in better ways (focus groups, critical participation-observations, cyberanthropology, art, etc.);
– Data analysis that goes beyond the ‘surface’ of what people say.
The originality of the journal is also to publish articles from the general field of education but also from that of intercultural communication education and language education, thus combining conceptual, theoretical and methodological achievements in these separate yet very much related fields of knowledge.
IJE4D seeks original and innovative research from authors across the world concerned with the following discussions:
- The influence of diversities on the work of educators (teacher trainees, teachers, university staff, adult educators, ‘informal’ educators, consultants) and students
- Teaching/learning about diversities
- Mobile education and diversities
- Links between ‘Home’ and institutions in relation to education for diversities
- ‘Diversities’ competence and its recognition (“assessment”)
- Language(s) in education for diversities
- Justice and ethics in education for diversities (bullying)
- Forms of racism (“without races”), xenophobia, xenophilia, ethnocentrism and discrimination in education
- The marketization and exploitation of diversities in education
- Leading and managing education for/in diversities.
The word Diversities refers to any person (or group of people) who defines him/herself as anOther or who is referred to by society, institutions, policy makers and his/her interlocutors as such. Diversities can be based, amongst others, on language, geographical space (countries, regions, cities), but also gender, worldview, social position, and/or the combination of all these. The plural form reflects a critical approach to multiculturalism in education, especially in relation to the concepts of culture and identity but also to questions of power, social exclusion and injustice.
The journal encourages interested authors to go beyond certain forms of culturalism or essentialism, i.e. the use of a static and highly ideological understanding of the concept of culture, which overlooks contextualised interaction and present culture as an “alibi”, as an easy explanation to problems in education. The journal is also critical of the idea that “diversity” represents only a challenge. Over-differentialist approaches, based on “nationality” or “ethnicity”, are to be used with care and criticality. The label education for diversities also advocates avoiding continuing to dichotomise intercultural and multicultural education, for which, Holm and Zilliacus (2009) argue “it is impossible to treat and draw conclusions about intercultural and multicultural education as if there was only one kind of each since there are several different kinds of both multicultural and intercultural education” (ibid.: 23). By doing so, the journal wants to avoid confusion, misunderstandings and to promote more dialogue between researchers interested in education for diversities.
IJE4D contains research articles, review essays, book reviews and interviews. The journal promotes interdisciplinary work (e.g. anthropology, gender studies, geography, linguistics, sociology) and showcases original theoretical and/or empirical perspectives and methods. All submissions should be theoretically informed and rigorous.
All submissions undergo initial editorial screening and refereeing by a minimum of two anonymous referees.
Books for review should be sent to the Book Review Editor Lim Sep Neo (<review.ije4d@gmail.com>).
The journal welcomes proposals for special issues.